The present invention relates to a hand rail assembly for assembly on the inclined roof of a cylindrical storage structure.
Cylindrical storage structures having inclined roofs, such as grain bins for the storage of grain, are typically filled by conveying the grain to the peak of the roof through an access which may be opened to admit the grain and closed to protect the grain from weather once the grain is in the grain bin. To ensure proper ventilation of the grain bin, several power exhaust fans are typically located on the inclined roof toward its top, and the fans are spaced from each other around the curvature of the roof. Once the grain has been admitted to the grain bin, the only reasonable access to these power exhaust fans to service them is from the roof of the grain bin. In order to facilitate the servicing of these power exhaust fans, decks have been mounted on the roof of the grain bin in proximity to the exhaust fans to permit access to the fans from the roof by service personnel. Once such roof deck construction is disclosed in my copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/606,296, filed Sep. 7, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Such grain bins also have screened vents spaced around the lower end of the inclined roof through which air is drawn into the top of the grain bin by the power exhaust fans. The air which enters through the vents is circulated above the grain and exhausted by the power exhaust fans. The vents are also used to release air when aeration fans at the floor of the bin are operated under the grain to push air upward from the bottom of the bin for maintaining grain condition. These vents may be numerous and on larger diameter grain bins may be upward to seventy in number.
It is periodically desired to fumigate the grain in the bin with certain gases which are introduced at the bottom of the grain bin to kill pests and neutralize certain undesirable contaminants which may be on the grain, such as molds or the like. During such fumigation, the vents are covered with a covering such as a plastic sheet or bag to block air from entering the grain bin through the vents. Also when the aeration fans force air upward from the floor of the bin, debris can catch on the vent screens, or weather conditions can cause icing on the screens. When either of these conditions occur, the vents cannot release the necessary air volume and can result in roof damage. Covering and uncovering of the vents for the fumigation procedure and maintenance and cleaning of the vent screens has typically been accomplished in the past by service personnel who are positioned at and moved sequentially one by one between each of the vents by a cherry picker.
In my copending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/630,576, filed Sep. 28, 2012, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, a deck is disclosed which extends around and encircles the cylindrical side wall of the grain bin beneath the bottom of its inclined roof and adjacent to the top of the side wall and to the vents to permit service personnel to access the vents from the exterior of the grain bin to cover and uncover the grain bin vents and to clean, inspect and maintain the vents without the need for a cherry picker.
Grain bins come in a variety of sizes and configurations depending upon the manufacturer, and the location of the power exhaust fans along the incline of the roof frequently varies depending upon the grain bin manufacturer. Because of this and for other reasons, decks which have previously been offered and which were to be assembled on any particular grain bin needed to be formed of components which were custom sized and shaped to fit the particular size and configuration of that manufacturer's bin. Thus, the dimensions of the various components of the deck, such as the deck plates, hand rails and the like, were custom sized and configured for each given grain bin.
In both of my aforementioned applications, the deck assemblies disclosed overcome the need for such customization of the sizes and shapes of the components needed to assemble a deck on a given grain bin. In those deck assemblies, all of the components of the assemblies may be of standard uniform size and shape without regard to the size of the grain bin or its configuration, the spacing of the roof ribs on the grain bin or fastener openings in the ribs, or the manufacturer of the grain bin. This substantially facilitated the assembly of the decks and substantially reduced the inventory of components needed to accommodate the several different grain bins that were currently on the market.
In some instances, the owner of the grain bin may wish to reduce the weight of the aforementioned deck assemblies, their cost and/or the time and labor needed to assemble and install the deck assemblies on the grain bin.
In the present invention, portions of the aforementioned assemblies have been eliminated including the decks themselves, and a hand rail assembly has been provided which permits service personnel to access the fans and/or vents by safely walking on the inclined roof. Moreover, the hand rail assembly of the present invention accomplishes this without sacrificing the ability of using components of standard uniform size and shape as previously discussed with respect to the aforementioned deck assemblies.
In one principal aspect of the present invention, a hand rail assembly for the inclined roof of a generally cylindrical storage structure comprises an elongate plate extending substantially parallel to the incline of the roof and having an upper face and a lower face facing the roof, a first pair of openings longitudinally spaced from each other and adjacent one longitudinal edge of the plate, and a second pair of openings longitudinally spaced from each other and adjacent the other longitudinal edge of the plate. The spacing of the first pair of openings is substantially the same as the spacing of openings in the roof whereby the plate may be attached to the roof with the lower face facing the roof by fastening means extending through the first openings and the openings in the roof. A pair of ring segments spaced from each other in the direction of the incline of the roof extend substantially perpendicular to the elongate plate and are constructed and arranged to rest upon the upper face of the plate. A plurality of openings are in the ring segments and at least one of these openings is aligned with the second pair of openings in the elongate plate whereby the ring segments may be attached to the upper face of the plate by fastening means extending through at least one opening in each of the ring segments and the second openings in the plate. A gusset extends substantially parallel to the incline of the roof and upwardly from the side of the ring segments opposite the plate, and the gusset and the ring segments have fastening means for attaching them together. A hand rail comprising a substantially vertical post is attached at one end to the gusset and at least one horizontal rail is attached to the vertical post toward its other end.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the ring segments have a plurality of openings spaced from each other along the length of the ring segments.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the openings in the ring segments are slots.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the gusset is substantially triangular in outline.
In still another principal aspect of the present, invention, the assembly includes a plurality of the elongate plates, a plurality of the ring segments arranged in end to end relationship to each other and attached to each other, a plurality of the gussets, and a plurality of the hand rails also arranged in end to end relationship to each other and attached to each other and to the gussets.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the assembly includes a plurality of hand rails comprising substantially vertical posts attached at one end to the gussets, and a plurality of horizontal rails attached to the posts toward other end of the posts.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the gusset nearest the bottom of the roof is fastened to the ring segment nearest the bottom of the roof and the end of the gusset nearest the top of the roof is fastened to the ring segment nearest the top of the roof and to the vertical post.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the end of the gusset nearest the top of the roof is fastened to the vertical post, and the bottom of the vertical post is attached to the ring segment nearest the top of the roof.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the ring segments flex to permit the ring segments to conform to the curvature of the roof.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, at least one of the ring segments is substantially Z-shaped in cross section comprising an upper and lower flange extending in opposite directions from a web connecting the flanges, the lower flange including the openings in the ring segments, and the flanges including spaced slots which permit the ring segments to flex.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the generally cylindrical storage container is a grain bin.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily understood upon a consideration of the following detailed description.